Apathy Has Consequences

I wrote today about the surprising results in the 131st legislative district, where incumbent Republican Karen Beyer lost to 23-year-old Justin Simmons.

My sense was that this surprising defeat of a moderate Republican by a more conservative young man living at home with his parents symbolized the increasing pressure on moderates of both parties to vote "reliably" rather than crossing party lines to craft compromises.

I don’t think that’s a good thing.

There were some points I didn’t have space for. One is that while I don’t doubt some of the fine qualities that many people have praised in Simmons, to me, he is exactly the kind of legislator we don’t need, and I’m not talking about his politics.

We need citizen lawmakers who have enough real-world work and life experience to understand the problems people are facing out there. I support term limits in part because I don’t like seeing young people enter legislative service in their 20s and make a career of it. It can give them a warped view of their place in society.

My best example for this is Keith McCall, D-Carbon, who succeeded his late father at age 22 and has kept the job for 28 years, most recently as House speaker. He’ll retire at the end of this year at age 50 with a $90,000 a year pension along with taxpayer-subsidized health benefits — and with a well-established sense of entitlement that has resulted in any number of appalling votes to line his own pockets.

There have been exceptions, and Simmons may well turn out to be one of them, but for me, it's a concern.

It also could be a moot point. Simmons, who isn’t working at present so he can campaign full time, may not survive the general election. The district has a Democratic registration advantage, one reason a moderate such as Beyer was a safer bet for maintaining it as a Republican seat. I'll get back to that in a moment.

First, a comment aimed at all of you who didn't vote.

Some of you probably are Independents, in which case you couldn’t vote in the primary. I think that needs to be changed.

But others just never made it to the polls, because it was raining too hard, because you didn’t know the candidates, because you forgot it was election day, because you don’t think one vote matters, whatever.

That kind of indifference has consequences. For example, Northampton County Council elected five Republicans last year because Democrats turned out in such tiny numbers. Among other things, my sense is that this is likely to result in no bi-county health bureau, although there hasn’t been a decision — or even a concrete proposal — yet.

I realize some of you, including Democrats, will consider that a good thing. But my point is that the issue likely was decided, not because a healthy number of taxpayers weighed the candidates and decided these were the representatives they wanted, but because so many of them declined to exercise their privilege of voting. The ripples from voter apathy can be far-reaching.

I asked Muhlenberg College political science professor Christopher Borick about the Beyer-Simmons result, and he said the small turnout may have been a significant factor. Lehigh County GOP Chairman William Platt II said the same thing in today's Morning Call news story on the race.

“If you get a passionate group of voters that are engaged,” Borick said, “they can make a difference, and that’s what you saw in that race. It’s a resource you can tap into as a candidate, and give [Simmons] a lot of credit.”

Borick noted that the people who hold moderate views are less likely to turn out for a primary election. “You don’t hear the same kind of energy and passion to preserve a middle-of-the-road elected official.”

But inaction does have consequences. For you moderate Republicans, it might mean losing the seat this fall. It already has meant losing a legislator in Beyer whose views may have reflected those of more people in the 131st.

“I think this is where there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans right now,” Borick said. “That sense of purity is clearly trumping electoral expediency among a large group of conservatives. This is the battle raging within Republican ranks. Our principles are so nonnegotiable that we’d rather lose.

“There’s a belief among a lot of conservatives that it’s better to have candidates that represent the pure conservative perspective than pragmatists and compromisers who can win political office.”

I’m a registered Republican at the moment, but I’m poor judge of this attitude, since I’m so indifferent to party labels that I flop my registration strategically from election to election. The real point, for me, is that those of you of either party who sit elections out are in effect handing the wheel to people whose views are more extreme.

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I am personally of two minds about low voter turn-out.

I vote every single time. Always had, always will. I enjoy it. I get to visit with my neighbors. But most importantly it is my duty as a citizen to do it and do it well. That means being informed - well informed and well read. There are too many graves filled with young men who breathed their last breath in awful pain and fear to allow to vote to think of ignoring my duty. So yeah, I get a little pissed off at people who can't get a little damp walking into a polling place.

But then, I also question if I want someone as mind-numbingly stupid and wretched a person pulling a lever to have their opinion count. Maybe it's best if they just stayed home. Stay out of the process they care so little about.

Posted By: Chris | May 20, 2010 5:53:37 PM

Not much commentary here, Bill. Guess the readers can't be bothered.

One comment about the Arlen Specter/Joe Sestak race - I think the pundits have it wrong. They say the TV ad claiming Arlen switched from a Rep to Dem candidate just to be reelected cost him the election.

I think despite all he has done for the state of PA, his loss this time was just due to the fact that he is 80 years old with some health issues, and it is time to get step aside.

Posted By: Lu | May 20, 2010 9:14:41 PM

I'm with Chris in that I've always felt honored to be able to get out and vote, whether it be a general election or a primary. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't look at it as a very impotant responsibility, they think of as more of a pain in the *ss to have to take the time to do it. That is a shame.

Posted By: Jeff Hager | May 21, 2010 12:33:37 PM

Movie Quote Quiz
Total people in discussion: 36

Apathy has consequences
Total people in discussion: 3

Ha.

Call me crazy, but I went to the polls not once but twice last Tuesday. Both e-machines were down at 7 AM. Better in the PM.

Posted By: Barb R | May 24, 2010 12:18:06 PM

Barb, I hear you. The one thing I'll say is that you can't always equate readership to the number of comments. I always get more comments on the pop culture stuff -- also things relating to animals, such as the recent Skip Eckhart item -- but I like to think people also are reading some of the more serious blog posts. Putting the best face on it, maybe it's because they agree with me and have nothing more to add?

Posted By: bill white | May 24, 2010 12:26:34 PM

And hopefully young Simmons will prove to be mature beyond his years, not unlike amateur golfer Jordan Spieth, child of Saucon Valley High School alumnae.

Posted By: Barb R | May 24, 2010 2:59:33 PM

Spieth was amazing this weekend. I had no idea he had local connections until I read it in the paper.

Posted By: bill white | May 24, 2010 3:07:35 PM

Simmons is a big talker whose rhetoric is 100% unoriginal but at 23 there's nothing wrong with living at home, something for which the man has been widely criticized.

Posted By: Walkie Wawtmire | May 25, 2010 11:16:30 AM

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